COCKBURN, HENRY,
an eminent judge and eloquent pleader, was born 26th October 1779,
either at Edinburgh, or at Cockpen, a small estate about eight miles
south of that city, then belonging to his father, but afterwards sold to
the earl of Dalhousie. His father, Archibald Cockburn, at one time
sheriff of Mid-Lothian, and subsequently also judge-admiral, was, from
1790 till his death in 1809, a baron of the exchequer in Scotland. His
mother, Janet Rannie, was one of the two daughters of Captain Rannie of
Melville, her sister being the wife of Henry Dundas, the first Viscount
Melville. In 1787 he was sent to the High school of Edinburgh, and in
1793 he entered the university. He studied Greek under Dalzel, logic
under Finlayson, moral philosophy under Dugald Stewart, and in 1800
passed advocate. That was a period remarkable in the history of
Edinburgh for the dawn of a new epoch of literary, political, and legal
talent. He was called to the bar at a time when he had to compete with
such men as Moncrieff, Fullerton, Jeffrey, Cranstoun, and John Clerk;
and highly gifted as they all were, and each remarkable for some
peculiar faculty of his own, in the power of persuasion he soon
distanced them all. “Of all the great pleaders of the Scottish bar,”
wrote Mr. Lockhart, in 1818, “Mr. Cockburn is the only one who is
capable of touching, with a bold and assured hand, the chords of
feeling; who can, by one plain word, and one plain look, convey the
whole soul of tenderness, or appeal, with the authority of a true
prophet, to the higher emotions which slumber in many bosoms, but are
dead, I think, in none. As every truly pathetic speaker must be, Mr.
Cockburn is a homely speaker … Instead of labouring, as most orators do,
to impress on the minds of his audience a high notion of his powers and
attainments, this man seems to be anxious about nothing except to make
them forget that he wears a gown, and to be satisfied that they are
listening to a person who thinks, feels, and judges exactly like
themselves. It is not his ambition to be admired; he wishes only to be
trusted. He does not, by one word or gesture, show that he aspires to be
reckoned a great man; but it is plain that he would give the world that
they should believe him to be an honest one. And after he has been
allowed to tell his story in his own way for ten minutes, I would defy
Diogenes himself to doubt it. His use of the language, and his still
more exquisite use of the images and allusions of common Scottish life,
must contribute in the most powerful manner to his success in this first
great object of all his rhetoric. There is an air of broad and
undisguised sincerity in the simple tones and energetic phrases he
employs, which finds its way like a charm to the very bottom of the
hearts around him. He sees it painted in their beaming and expanding
faces, and sees, and knows, and feels at once that his eloquence is
persuasive. Once so far victorious, he is thenceforth irresistible. He
has established an understanding between himself and his audience – a
feeling of fellowship and confidence of communion – which nothing can
disturb. The electricity of thought and of sentiment passes from his
face to theirs, and thrills back again from theirs to his. He has fairly
come into contact; he sees their breasts lie bare to his weapon, and he
will make no thrust in vain.”

In 1806 Mr. Cockburn was
appointed advocate-depute, but in July 1810 he was dismissed by the
lord-advocate of the day, for not being of his party, and voting against
him at a faculty meeting. In March 1811, he married, and went to reside
at Bonaly, in the parish of Colinton, about three miles from Edinburgh,
which continued to be his place of residence till his death.

In 1830, on the accession
of the Whig party to power, Mr. Jeffrey became lord-advocate and Mr.
Cockburn solicitor-general of Scotland. These two names of Jeffrey and
Cockburn had long been linked together as rival leaders at the bar, and
they were now to be associated as colleagues. In 1834, they were both
elevated to the bench as lords of session, when they respectively
assumed the judicial titles of Lord Jeffrey and Lord Cockburn. As a
judge Lord Cockburn was careful, patient, and subtle, while as a man he
was singularly large-hearted and genial. He possessed humour, wit, and
eloquence in a high degree, with ripe observation and inimitable
expression, a sound judgment and a kind heart. He died at his house at
Bonaly on the morning of April 26, 1854, aged 75.

A patriotic and
benevolent spirit induced him to exert his influence for the welfare of
Edinburgh and its institutions. Among these the Royal Scottish Academy
claimed a large portion of his attention. His love of art, and devotion
to the Scottish capital, led him to publish, in 1850, a characteristic
pamphlet, entitled ‘The Best Way of Spoiling the Beauty of Edinburgh.’
He also wrote some letters in the newspapers on the same subject, and
two articles in the Edinburgh Review on the office of Lord Advocate. In
1852 appeared at Edinburgh his ‘Life of Lord Jeffrey,’ in 2 vols. 8vo,
and in 1856 ‘Memorials of His Own Time,’ By Lord Cockburn. Edinburgh, 1
vol. 8vo.

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